The standard device for testing electronic neuroscience instruments such as a voltage clamp amplifier is a simple resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit. While the RC circuit can represent the passive electrical properties of a live neuron, it cannot generate action potentials to interact with the voltage clamp amplifier in a dynamic way.
Previously, Breau et al developed a neuron emulator that used an oscillator to generate the action potentials. The oscillator was a time-varying voltage source, which was too strong to overcome by use of a voltage clamp amplifier. Therefore, it was not possible to voltage-clamp the action potentials generated by this device.
The neuron emulator in the present invention uses a novel concept, whereby an action potential is generated by switching a pre-charged capacitor into the output circuitry. Once the capacitor is discharged, it is switched out of the output circuitry and charged up for the next firing of the action potential. The present invention overcame the previous limitations of the neuron emulator.